Instincts
by LizzieMorewolfe
Summary: It's quiet. Too quiet and Lizzie Bennet is going to learn why she should never ignore her instincts. Ever. LBD post-series


**I've just realized now that I have two alternate universes for LBD. One is the Domesticity universe which includes and Alternate ending (Waking Up Next To You) and the other is my Bilingual universe. I think the only thing they have in common is the Thirteen Sunflowers = I'm Sorry thing. This story is under the Bilingual universe. The biggest noticeable difference is that he calls Lizzie Elizabeth in the BU and that she immediately works for Pemberley Digital.(I'll write a fic about that soon. Maybe under this story) Also, they don't move to a white picket fence house but live in the Darcy family home. This is just to clarify so I don't confuse people.**

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**The Attic (or Why Lizzie Should Never Ignore Her Instincts)**

It is a truth universally acknowledge that an energetic 6 year old on summer vacation would be in want of diversion. However little known this may have been upon beginning the vacation, the truth becomes so well fixed halfway through it that said six year old has been considering shredding her father's papers as an antidote to her boredom.

"Daddeeeee! I'm bored! I finished the books you and Mommy gave me to read and I even colored all the pages of the coloring book without going beyond the line." The little girl flounced into the room, disturbing her father from his intent study of his laptop screen with her loud complaint.

Anna Soleil B. Darcy had -according to her parents- the unfortunate situation of inheriting the worse of them. To the public eye, the girl was extremely shy; and she was, but only in public. At home however, the little girl was a terror. Bursting to the seams with unbridled energy, the girl had to be constantly doing something- whether it be running around their huge house or gardens, climbing a tree, pretending to be a pirate, doing arts and crafts or reading a book. She was also a very blunt speaker, even for a child, unafraid to voice out her thoughts and feelings on any matter concerning her. This became especially evident when her thoughts and feelings were on the side of discomfort or annoyance.

Which is how William Darcy - CEO of Pemberley Digital, champion of the Literacy for a New Generation movement, and one half of the power couple known in the society pages simply as Dizzie - found himself dealing with a loud and restless little girl at 3 in the afternoon on his "work at home" day while attempting to prepare for a major meeting that was to take place in two days. Now, normally, with situations like this, he wouldn't have much of a problem. He and Elizabeth had their "work at home" days together and they would alternately mind Anna so the other could work without interruption for a portion of time. And on weeks like this when he had major meetings to prepare for, she would even - with his blessing - take a short leave and spend her days with their daughter in order to give him uninterrupted time to focus on his work.

Unfortunately, though, Elizabeth was in Las Vegas for three days for a media in education conference where she had been asked to speak about her latest series of projects.

When he had founded the Literacy for a New Generation movement in order to stress the necessity of introducing the children to the world of books, Elizabeth had jumped in the bandwagon and started designing and creating projects that would do just that. Working in a media corporation, they understood what a big role television and multimedia played in the lives of most people around the world. Which was how she had come up with the idea of retelling and modernizing well-known and loved classics, beginning with Jane Austen's First Impression which took on the vlog format from her Graduate Studies days- "Don't say anything, Will, or I will force you to appear as the protagonist's love interest!"- and promptly won over the hearts of several almost rabid teenage fangirls. Due to its success, she went on to create other adaptations, the latest being Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers, the Musketeers being a league of gamers whose abilities in the game extend to reality. This one was gradually building a fanbase of preteen boys and even older boys and girls who, while finding the plot more "immature", were greatly amused and interested in how she had translated and transcribed the events of the novel into webisodes.

Her work had garnered a lot of media attention and just as much critic praise and so, it had come as no surprise that she was asked to speak in this particular prestigious convention. While he was genuinely proud of her and happy for her, he had also come to look upon these three days as dreaded ones. Aside from the fact that he really disliked being separated from her for more than one day, he also disliked having to mind his hyperactive daughter during a week when work was really hectic.

Heaving a big sigh, he turned to his daughter and reminded himself to use smaller words- he almost always had to do so after reading contracts and viability studies and the like.

"Anna, I have a big meeting to plan for remember? So I can't play with you right now no matter how much I want to. I'm sorry, Sweetheart. Why don't you go explore?" His words were met by a big pout and he sighed again.

"But Daddy, I've explored all two floors of the house. I hid inside the dryer once remember? There's nowhere else to explore." His brow furrowed at that. It was true, even at this young age, she had managed to explore their backyard and the whole two floors of their home. Wait! Two floors? Their house didn't just have two floors. She did have somewhere to explore.

"As a matter of fact there is. Did you know that our house has a third floor?" Her eyes widened comically at this and he smiled at the hunger and curiosity he saw in them. She was just like Elizabeth, always curious and eager to learn and he couldn't squelch down his pride at that fact.

"Really? What can you find there?"

"The attic. It's a storage room where you can keep old things that you don't use anymore but still want to hold on to."

"What's inside the attic?"

"Well, there are some of my things, some of your mom's things and even things from your great great great great grandparents." He bit back a laugh at the delight that leapt at her eyes at the prospect of going through all those treasures that the room held. "What are you waiting for?"

He didn't hold back his laughter this time as she leapt up to kiss him on his cheek before rushing out of the study. He smiled with satisfaction at his impromptu diversionary tactic and went back to the files he had been going through.

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It couldn't have been more than an hour since Anna left when she suddenly burst back into the room.

"Daddy! Come see! I found something really really cool in the attic!" She tugged on his arm insistently.

"Calm down Anna!" He laughed at her exuberance. "Let me just save my work, all right?"

"Hurry!" She sat down on a nearby chair with a huff. "Adventure waits for no one."

She looked so much like Elizabeth as she said that. Sounded just like her, too. And her eyes. She was looking at him with hauntingly familiar pleading eyes. He knew that he stood no chance against those eyes and promptly gave in. With a sigh, he chose to turn off his laptop instead of simply logging off. He knew that he probably would not be able to get back to work anytime soon, not with the way his daughter was behaving.

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Lizzie Bennet had a huge smile on her face as she made her way up the steps to the door. She had left the convention earlier, opting to not attend the final lunch. Instead, she had gotten a ticket for the next flight back to San Francisco, ignoring the fact that the seat wasn't in First class- what Will didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

She grabbed the keys from her purse and made quick work of entering the house. Her smile slipped off immediately after. The house was way too quiet for a Friday afternoon. There should be a squeal or a giggle echoing loudly, along with the sound of someone running. She should be hearing Anna. Something was wrong. Something bad had happened to Anna.

Shaking away the prickly sense of doom (Really, Lizzie? That's the best description you can come up with?), she forced herself to calm down. She chided herself for almost immediately starting to panic because, really, there was a perfectly good explanation for the eerily silent house, right? Right?

Okay, she was getting nowhere fast. With a deep breath, she steeled herself for whatever was NOT wrong.

"Honey, I'm home!" She slightly raised her voice and made sure to keep it as cheerful and steady as possible. It only took a few seconds for her to hear the slam of a door and the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs.

"Mommy! You're back! You're back early!" She smiled at the familiar voice that rang out. She felt silly for panicking now. Everything was fine. Nothing was wrong.

At least that was what she thought until she caught sight of her daughter.

"Look Mommy! I found a box of costumes upstairs! This one makes me look just like Granny. Look. I have a big hat and a shawl and all I need to do is to learn how to speak funny like her and I can be Grandma!"

Lizzie tried to force down the panic rising in her throat. She was never going to ignore her "prickly sense of doom" ever again.

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**I'll try to get the next chapter posted later or tomorrow. Please review and leave your thoughts down there. THANKS FOR READING!**


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